Life on the Homestead

Been working outside all day. Got the plywood cut for the shed floor. Just laying it in there and screwing it down. The shed is in fair shape but the floor was pretty rotten. I'm going to keep the mower, rototiller, walk behind trimmer, and a ton of garden/nursery stuff in there. It used to be a walk in for ponies, but it hasn't been used for anything for ten years. I spread that old manure in a newly tilled garden spot this morning. I figure if weed seeds germinate l'll till them in while they're very small.

So I wrote that I bought a ridiculous amount of daffodil bulbs. The auger/planter works great. Very hard on my wrists after awhile, so I think I'm only going to be able to do a couple dozen at a time. Not to mention how hard it is on these old knees! I'm planting them along a fence so fortunately I have something to grab and help pull myself up.

Break is over, much to do! The weather is lovely.
 

Those two methods don't sound that promising. The pry bar would probably break the weld or bend/break the wire. The rotor tiller idea sounds dangerous to me. They are a handful by themselves. I think probably loosening the soil with a shovel and then soaking the ground with a ample supply of water and letting it set for 24 hours. When digging you also could run into roots. Hatchet or loppers to cut them. We had to do this on several old hog pens a few years ago. Hard work so take it easy. Let me know how it progresses!
Congrats on putting the floor down! Homesteading is a great adventure. When the work is done there is a lot to be grateful for...rest. :)
 
I said I wasn't going to plant blueberry bushes because there is a very nice u-pick about 8 miles from here. I'm now meeting someone tomorrow afternoon, to buy 6 big potted bushes for a great price. Blueray, Bluecrop, and Duke.
 

CathyHorn said:
I think I will enjoy, and benefit from, keeping a journal. Day to day thoughts, ideas, lists, and progress made. I recently made a huge life decision, without giving it a lot of thought. I am alone in life. No partner, and I never had children. I've been married before, and to tell the truth, I guess I'm not cut out for it. I am a loner and I'm fine with that. I have dogs and cats. Anyway, I own land with a small cabin and mobile home. Had this place for about 20 years. A few years ago I bought a house in the city, because I was so tired of commuting, and driving in bad weather. So since I've retired I've had some health issues that have been addressed, and I now feel that I'm 100%. I impulsively sold the big house and moved back to my homestead. I admit it's been harder than I thought it would be. Some days I feel completely overwhelmed, there's so much to do out here, I don't know where to start.
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CathyHorn said:
I think I will enjoy, and benefit from, keeping a journal. Day to day thoughts, ideas, lists, and progress made. I recently made a huge life decision, without giving it a lot of thought. I am alone in life. No partner, and I never had children. I've been married before, and to tell the truth, I guess I'm not cut out for it. I am a loner and I'm fine with that. I have dogs and cats. Anyway, I own land with a small cabin and mobile home. Had this place for about 20 years. A few years ago I bought a house in the city, because I was so tired of commuting, and driving in bad weather. So since I've retired I've had some health issues that have been addressed, and I now feel that I'm 100%. I impulsively sold the big house and moved back to my homestead. I admit it's been harder than I thought it would be. Some days I feel completely overwhelmed, there's so much to do out here, I don't know where to start.
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Hello from Texas Cathy, Your story sounds exactly like mine. I have learned to do many things that I never wanted to learn, but baby steps and finishing projects has been extremely satisfying. Still overwhelmed at times but I know somehow, someway I will get it done.
 
I have been wondering how your getting along. Glad to hear from you. We got our wood delivered and are in the process of stacking it. We bought about 2 cords this year. Hope your staying warm and healthy. :)
 
Very busy these last few days. The weather has been quite nice. I think I'm finished messing with the garden for this year, other than planting daffodil bulbs. I'm going to my youngest sister's house tomorrow and plant some for her. I got about a hundred garlic cloves in the one raised bed, mulched, and a piece of fence layed over it to keep the chickens from scratching at it. I planted 11 iris rhizomes a few days ago, too.

I dislike these dark evenings. It gets very, very dark out here in the country. No amount of lamp light seems to brighten a room, it's dark dark dark. I don't have any hobbies to keep me occupied other than reading and the Internet. Winter hobbies, that is. I feel as though I'm wasting time that I could be accomplishing something. Besides eating, lol!
 
CathyHorn said:
Very busy these last few days. The weather has been quite nice. I think I'm finished messing with the garden for this year, other than planting daffodil bulbs. I'm going to my youngest sister's house tomorrow and plant some for her. I got about a hundred garlic cloves in the one raised bed, mulched, and a piece of fence layed over it to keep the chickens from scratching at it. I planted 11 iris rhizomes a few days ago, too.

I dislike these dark evenings. It gets very, very dark out here in the country. No amount of lamp light seems to brighten a room, it's dark dark dark. I don't have any hobbies to keep me occupied other than reading and the Internet. Winter hobbies, that is. I feel as though I'm wasting time that I could be accomplishing something. Besides eating, lol!
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I know exactly what you mean! At my house, the power was turned off as soon as it got dark. Some years we used kerosene lamps (and we had about twenty) and if I sat at the table with two I could read. Later on after I got the Kindle, at least I could read in my bed. Before that I used a flashlight on a book......ugh! Then with the power we had three LED lights in the kitchen but I could not sit on the counter to read.
 
Dreary day. Not quite raining, it's misty, but it's warmish. Doesn't feel like November.

I suffer from insomnia. Since I'm retired, it doesn't wreck my life, usually. Just every so often. I haven't slept in 3 nights, other than 30-45 minutes, a couple times. I am miserable. I feel like a zombie. This only happens a few times a year. My Dr has suggested I try meds to "get me back on track". I'm very much against it. I think he mentioned Tramadol? I just don't want to be knocked out, since I live way out in the middle of nowhere, alone, you know? The thought makes me very uncomfortable.
 
I hope you start getting some sleep. A lot of people on the forum have trouble sleeping. Maybe something that has worked for them will help you. I have trouble sleeping also. Some hot herbal tea helps me. I have used melatonin and it helped ( your not supposed to use it habitually ). I also use THC to help with pain to sleep better. Some people have used many different ways to help them sleep. I am in your corner. 🤗
 
Magnesium is supposed to help. I take it for other reasons but people in my Keto group take it before they go to bed and say they fall asleep right away. Also there is product called Perfect Keto Beauty Plus Sleep that some people are having really good results with. It is a collagen product. So natural.
 
katlupe said:
Magnesium is supposed to help. I take it for other reasons but people in my Keto group take it before they go to bed and say they fall asleep right away. Also there is product called Perfect Keto Beauty Plus Sleep that some people are having really good results with. It is a collagen product. So natural.
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I take a pretty hefty dose of magnesium every day, ever since I had my bowel surgery. I know it's supposed to help you sleep, but it doesn't help me. I also sometimes take an otc sleep aid with herbs and melatonin, I never noticed that it did anything, after the first couple nights. Herbal teas are nice but I'm up peeing every hour 🤣
 
It was so good to see you and catch up. For some reason I was thinking about your brother. I remember him coming to my house and trimming my horses' hooves. When he went to do Georgie Girl's hooves, I told him she didn't have to be held because she loved having it done so much and that if she was out in the paddock it would be so much easier. He said, "Let's take her out there." We did and she was an angel.
 
Good morning friends, it's been awhile since I posted anything here, although I come and read every day. Happy March! I don't believe I actually suffer from SAD, but something close to it. I feel like I'm coming out of hibernation 😁.

We've had a handful of snow storms, and one week of single digit temps, but I made it through just fine. It's so much easier knowing I don't have to go anywhere, being a retired person. I've had cabin fever, for sure. I need to make a reading list for next winter, and maybe figure out a few hobbies to keep myself occupied.

I'm soo grateful for my good health. Before my return to the homestead I had suffered terribly with a few issues. I had knee surgery, a bowel reconstruction, an emergency surgery to remove my ovaries, a hernia repair, and hip replacement surgery, all in the space of 5 years. No sooner recovered from one and on to the next. But here I am now in excellent shape. I turned 65 in November, and while I'm not as strong as I used to be, I'm holding my own!

March brings seed starting here in NY. Not until the very end of the month, but now I can get the tables and shelving/lights set up, sort through my seed collection, and draw up my garden plans. For today, I'm waiting for my neighbor, the local plow guy, to come and plow my driveway so I can get out.

It hasn't been easy this past few months because I've been quite bored, between the cold weather and the short days, but here we are, March is here!
 
Hello. I spent the morning getting ready for another winter storm coming tomorrow afternoon. I don't think it's going to be too bad, it's March after all.
One of the things I don't like about living back here in the boonies is that I have to go to a laundry mat. There is a small, not very nice one about 15 minutes away. It's not taken care of. Dirty, and half the machines don't work. So I prefer to drive 35 minutes to the next town over. That place is huge and super clean. Today was a big day, I had a ton of bedding. It's nice to be all caught up. I plan on staying home for the entire weekend. Lots of good food, herbal teas, relaxing in front of the tv. Life is good. God Bless 🙏🙏
 
I am so sick of snow. Expecting another big storm over the next 2 days, starting tomorrow. I just cleaned my car off from this last storm. I haven't left home in several days and I'm going crazy. Only so much tv, napping and eating one can do. Come on Spring.
 
CathyHorn said:
I am so sick of snow. Expecting another big storm over the next 2 days, starting tomorrow. I just cleaned my car off from this last storm.
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Same here, what part of the country are you in? I'm in northern Utah, we are in the same weather pattern as California.
CathyHorn said:
Come on Spring.
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Absolutely!! Can't happen too soon.
 
CathyHorn said:
I am so sick of snow. Expecting another big storm over the next 2 days, starting tomorrow. I just cleaned my car off from this last storm. I haven't left home in several days and I'm going crazy. Only so much tv, napping and eating one can do. Come on Spring.
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It will be over soon. Sonny had a lot of snow too but he managed to take me shopping today. You will be out planting the garden before you know it!
 
51° out and sunny most of the day. We got several inches of snow a couple days ago. I'm on the top of a big hill so the wind blows a lot, and big gusts with this storm. I had areas of nothing, and spots where the drifts were 4' deep. I shoveled paths today, for the chickens, and so I could use my ice fishing sled to haul feed and other things from my car. I was out working in sweatpants and a t shirt and I was soo overheated. It was quite nice, honestly. My neighbor plowed my driveway yesterday and it drifted in at the opening, so today I had to shovel that. I can get out now, if I had to.
 

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